PREP WRESTLING: Poway High is the model of sustained dominance

POWAY ---- Pick a dominating athletic program in the San Diego
Section, any team, and there won't be a pedigree of success like
Poway High in wrestling.

La Jolla won 15 consecutive CIF San Diego Section titles in boys
tennis. Torrey Pines has won 16 straight section crowns in girls
tennis. Carlsbad has captured seven straight titles in boys water
polo and Oceanside football can boast of six straight
championships.

But all of those pale in comparison to Poway wrestling. The
Titans have claimed 27 of the last 28 section championships, with
their lone loss coming by forfeit. The Titans had their 1986 title
stripped three days after their victory because one of their
wrestlers had moved up too many weight classes. Poway recovered to
win the first of its four state titles that season.

In addition to the four state titles, the Titans have produced
12 individual state champions, all since coach Wayne Branstetter
arrived from Oxnard Channel Islands High before the 1978-79 season.
They'll attempt to win their 25th straight section title this
weekend.

How did all this happen? Why does it continue? And why isn't
every team copying the Titans' blueprint for success?

It's pretty simple to Branstetter.

"Get them into the room, get them interested in the sport and
get them to work,'' he said in his office at the 8-year-old Dr.
Perry L. Munday Wrestling Center on campus. "We get the same kind
of kids everyone else gets. We haven't reinvented the wheel
here.

"People make programs. In the end, it comes down to the kids'
commitment to be good."

That commitment has become a year-round endeavor both at Poway
and elsewhere. A raw wrestler's dream to be an elite performer
includes offseason tournaments as well as summer camps.

And it all starts with finding wrestlers. Beginning with his
five seasons at Channel Islands, Branstetter has become awfully
adept at spotting potential wrestlers in physical education
classes.

"You have to profile kids from a distance," he said. "We've
found short kids and fat kids, tall kids and skinny kids. We've
found munchkins and we've found Godzillas, and put them in
competitive tests to measure their response.

"Sometimes you can see their nature in their eyes. There has to
be something inside. I can't create that.

"I can't put my finger on what exactly it is we're looking for,
but I know it when I see it."

Some of the tangible traits Branstetter seeks are mental
toughness, work ethic, quickness, upper or lower body strength,
balance, a willingness to battle and a little aggressiveness,
too.

A lot of kids he identifies never considered trying out for
wrestling. Some envisioned themselves in another sports, others
never thought of themselves as athletes.

"I had to be a salesman at Channel Islands,'' Branstetter said.
"I just kept talking as long as I could until they agreed to give
wrestling a try."

He had to do that at Poway at first, too. But four years after
taking over at Poway, Branstetter won his first section title in
1982. Four years later, the Titans had their first state crown.